The Architecture of the Cassini Division
M.M. Hedman, P.D. Nicholson, K.H. Baines, B.J. Buratti, C. Sotin, R.N., Clark, R.H. Brown, R.G. French, E.A. Marouf

TL;DR
This study uses Cassini spacecraft data to analyze the shapes and dynamics of gaps in Saturn's rings, revealing patterns of eccentricity, resonance, and potential interactions with moons and the B ring edge.
Contribution
It provides new detailed measurements of gap edge shapes and proposes a resonance-based explanation involving Mimas and the B ring edge for the formation of the Cassini Division gaps.
Findings
Outer gap edges are nearly circular within 1 km.
Inner gap edges are eccentric with consistent precession rates.
Resonance patterns suggest interactions with Mimas and B ring edge.
Abstract
The Cassini Division in Saturn's rings contains a series of eight named gaps, three of which contain dense ringlets. Observations of stellar occultations by the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer onboard the Cassini spacecraft have yielded ~40 accurate and precise measurements of the radial position of the edges of all of these gaps and ringlets. These data reveal suggestive patterns in the shapes of many of the gap edges: the outer edges of the 5 gaps without ringlets are circular to within 1 km, while the inner edges of 6 of the gaps are eccentric, with apsidal precession rates consistent with those expected for eccentric orbits near each edge. Intriguingly, the pattern speeds of these eccentric inner gap edges, together with that of the eccentric Huygens ringlet,form a series with a characteristic spacing of 0.06 degrees/day. The two gaps with non-eccentric inner edges lie near…
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